Minnesota voters head to the polls on Tuesday for a special election that could decide control of the state House. The race will fill the seat left vacant after the tragic death of former House Speaker Melissa Hortman, who was assassinated along with her husband in June.
Hortman, a longtime Democratic leader, and her husband were shot in their Brooklyn Park home by a man posing as a police officer. Another state legislator and his wife were also injured in the attack but survived. The suspect, 57-year-old Vance Boelter, faces federal and state charges of murder and attempted murder.
The election to replace Hortman comes at a sensitive time, just days after another act of political violence shook the nation. Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated in Utah last week, leaving many voters worried about safety and civility in politics. Both candidates in Minnesota’s District 34B race have spoken openly about these concerns.
Democrat Xp Lee, a former Brooklyn Park City Council member, said he wants to calm tensions and focus on restoring trust. Republican Ruth Bittner, a local real estate agent, admitted the violence made her reconsider running but said she ultimately decided not to back down, arguing that solutions come from engagement rather than fear.
Lee won the Democratic primary easily in August, while Bittner ran unopposed as the Republican nominee. The district, which includes parts of Brooklyn Park, leans heavily Democratic, but the stakes are unusually high.
If Lee wins, Democrats and Republicans will return to a 67-67 split in the House, continuing the unique power-sharing arrangement that shaped much of the 2025 legislative session. After losing their majority in 2024, Democrats agreed to share leadership with Republicans. Hortman helped broker the deal, stepping aside as speaker after six years so Republican Lisa Demuth could take the gavel. Hortman became “speaker emerita,” and committees were divided evenly between the two parties, forcing cooperation to pass laws.
If Bittner manages an upset, Republicans would gain full control of the House for the first time since 2018. That would strengthen their hand against Democratic Governor Tim Walz and a narrowly Democratic-controlled Senate, where the party holds a majority by just one vote.
This high-stakes special election is only the first of several coming in Minnesota. On November 4, voters will also decide two open Senate seats. One race will fill the vacancy left by Democratic Senator Nicole Mitchell of Woodbury, who resigned after being convicted of burglarizing her stepmother’s home. The other will replace Republican Senator Bruce Anderson of Buffalo, who died in July.
Those contests are expected to maintain the current Senate balance since Mitchell’s district is strongly Democratic and Anderson’s strongly Republican. However, if Democrat Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger wins Mitchell’s Senate seat, she will vacate her House seat, forcing yet another special election later this year.
For now, all eyes are on Brooklyn Park, where voters will decide whether Minnesota continues with a divided House or hands full control to Republicans. With political violence fresh in people’s minds and the memory of Hortman’s leadership still strong, Tuesday’s vote carries both symbolic and practical weight for the state’s future.
